Sanguine Gloria
by Becks
Summary: This is the Sequal to A Serpant Born, Which was a Sequal to True Dragon *deep breath* Basically this is a series of fics about what i thinks going to happen at the end of HP in my twisted little world ! Warning Slash is hinted at in this as well as SHOCK
1. Prelude

My thanks have to go to Just Silver, without whom I never would have bothered finishing A Serpent Born, let alone beginning this **__**

My thanks have to go to Just Silver, without whom I never would have bothered finishing A Serpent Born, let alone beginning this. But first and foremost to Incitatus, who is not only Beta Reader extrodinaire, but created [AVADA KEDAVRA][1]**_, which let me create Sylvan, and who plays the best Lucius (or do I mean Lucious?) I have ever seen. Babe, you're the best._**

Sanguine Gloria

Prelude

The walled garden was a tiny haven of tranquillity. The winter snows that blanketed the grounds of the school had not touched it. A perfect English summer was preserved inside, roses climbed the walls, a mass of conflicting colours harmonised by nature. Mixed in with the deep green of holly bushes jasmine flowers, starry white, waiting for the night air to release their perfume. Lavender ran riot through the borders; it was a haven for the senses.

Midsummer on a winters day.

And yet the calm still perfection had been violated. Violence, magical and mundane hung in the air like a cloud. Students and professors alike stood on the greensward watching the tableau that had appeared out of nowhere. 

There were witnesses to Miriam Salezars unprecedented act of blood magic, Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter who saw the blade slice into her flesh, saw the air crackle as the fabric of reality was ripped asunder, confusion erupting as three Death Eaters apparated and let loose their spells disapparating instantly.

But one remained; his eyes fixed on the unconscious redhead, who's appearance out of nothingness had been equally strange, but opportune, for she had taken the bolt of magic meant for Miriam at the climax of her spell.

***

The garden was still. The presence of Death Eaters at Hogwarts must have been the first silencing shocker for those around him, and then the appearance of the redhead who was now lying like something dead at his feet. It was a good analogy; she should have been dead. She was dead. It was in the journals neatly recorded: 

DECEASED 

Yet she still looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen her. 

Breathing was suddenly difficult behind the mask, he removed it and let it fall unnoticed to the grass; like any good chess player he knew when he was caught, now that the wards were back up apparition on the Hogwarts grounds would be impossible as would its opposite. 

The figure at his feet remained the same though, as if hope and prayer would have changed that. He could see the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Despite aiming to kill she was still alive, back from the dead. He shook his head finally managing to tear his attention away from her prone figure, raising his gaze his eyes clashed with Dumbledore's. 

The deep blue twinkle was still there shining out from behind the half moon spectacles, but within the calm gaze was a look of something like pity that the man didn't like, but right now he was finding concentration difficult. 

He moved. His eyes scanned the faces of Draco and the woman beside him that could only be Amaris. Sirius Black, the Potter boy, and there kneeling half slumped on the floor, Miriam Salazar. The prophesied heir to Slytherin that he had been sent to stop. 

He had failed.

Kneeling by her side, his robes liberally splashed with a dark shade that could only be blood was Severus. He glanced up too concerned about the dark haired girl cradled in his arms girl to worry about any sort of courtesy. 

And the other girl lying at his feet…the one who had appeared from nowhere. 

The sight of this one who he thought was gone was what had kept him here… he shook his head and knelt beside her and gently shifted her shoulder, the hair slipped over the backs of his fingers the action triggering a memory.

__

'You can't, its not right, you just can't do it!' his hand lashed out impacting on her cheek, the faint hiss of soft skin registering across his knuckles in a flash of sensation. He had misjudged the point of impact and caught her across the temple with his ring. She had been falling towards the floor before he could say anything, but he could move fast when the occasion warranted and had caught her, she had been too light in his arms, as if she had bird bones instead of the normal. Then he had placed her on the window seat and left her, letting her hair brush over his hands as he put her down and spending the entire afternoon trying to forget the sensation.

Shaking his head he gently placed his fingers in front of her mouth, she was breathing, slow and rhythmic, the memories that conjured had to be ignored. He brushed the same finger over her cheek before beginning to stand. 

The moment his fingers shifted across her face the long dark eyelashes fluttered open, revealing dazed eyes so dark a blue as to be classed as indigo with a ring of gold around the pupils, for a moment she focused. 

"Luce?"

And then her eyes closed again, but it was enough.

All around him people moved spurred into action by that little sign a sudden burst of life after winter. In a flurry of robes he straightened and saw three wands levelled at his torso. His raised his eyes moved over each face absorbing the loathing in their eyes. 

Black … Potter … and Draco. He raised his hands palms up away from his body and turned slowly to give them no excuse. He met Dumbledore's eyes and nodded at what he found there. 

"I'll come quietly of course." He said.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts nodded in reply before adjusting his glasses with one finger.

"My thanks Lucius"

Lucius Malfoy smiled in return, Draco's smile, but poisonous.

"And my pleasure"

   [1]: http://uk.geocities.com/avatar8472/



	2. Scherzo

My thanks have to go to Just Silver, without whom I never would have bothered finishing A Serpent Born, let alone beginning this **__**

With much love to all of the people who reviewed, Just Silver, you absolute darling :) you are a constant source of support ! Byrum Rodeobaby, you are to be given your wish, more about the redhead. Sharte, I'm afraid she isn't although its an interesting though *waves sword at muse* 'Back, back!' Aries_Wrath, thankyou very much and I hope you do ! Sandy, I'll give you another go, guess again ;) _Incitatus, I'm sooooo sorry for the misspell, I corrected it see *puppy dog eyes* _

  


__

A small group remained in the garden now that the crowd of onlookers had   
dispersed. Lucius Malfoy had followed Dumbledore almost too easily without so   
much as a backward glance but that was not the question that concerned them   
right now.   
  
Miriam was recovering. She stood with her head cradled against Professor   
Snape's collar looking down at the ground beneath her feet; it should have   
been damp with blood, but it was dry. The only deep red was that of the   
strange girls' hair splayed across the grass, shifting slightly in the   
breeze.   
  
Sirius was beside Snape, and his eyes too were riveted on the girl. Of course   
when someone appears out of nowhere they tend to instantly become the focus   
of attention.   
  
"Who is she?" Miriam asked.   
  
Whatever the spell she had cast had taken out of her seemed to have returned   
with her voice. Harry could only shrug and he saw Sirius echo the motion but   
Draco was murmuring to himself.   
  
"I've seen her somewhere before, I swear it"   
  
For a moment he thought professor Snape was going to remain silent, and then   
he spoke, his voice carrying the after tones of a sigh.   
  
"You have. There's a portrait of her in the Dungeon"   
  
He watched recognition dawn in Draco's eyes, then something moved in them   
like curiosity but professor Snape forestalled it.   
  
"Why don't you go and look, see what you can find out about her"   
  
From the look on her face Miriam wanted to raise an objection, which   
suggested that Snape knew more than he was telling, but right now wasn't the   
best time to interfere.   
  
"Sirius, you take her to the infirmary? I'll take Miriam and the children can   
meet us there afterwards."   
  
Sirius nodded and slipped from Snape's side bending to pick up the woman, she   
looked tiny cradled in his arms. His lover didn't look back as he left the   
gardens, but that didn't bother Harry, he knew exactly where Sirius'   
interests lay.   
  
Professor Snape went with Miriam. Harry and Amaris exchanged puzzled glances.   
Whilst Draco observed the scene, his expression thoughtful.   
  
"Come on, lets find the painting?" he said, suddenly decisive.   
  
"What painting?" Rang out yet another voice, a familiar figure was entering   
through the garden gate.   
  
Hermione, it seemed had finally woken up and her curiosity was running on   
full alert. But Draco, who had found that to ignore her was the best policy,   
was already heading back towards the school. Amaris looked at Draco's   
retreating back and then winked at her.   
  
"Let's go, and then 'Moine, we can all find out!"   
  
***   
  
Amaris had never been in the Slytherin Dungeons before, she'd expected them   
to be cold and rather dank, but they weren't though they were just more than   
a little gothic. Draco was preoccupied; she could hear him muttering to   
himself in the back of his mind before he actually spoke out loud.   
  
"Aha, there it is"   
  
He took a few strides then stopped. He turned. Draco was standing in front of   
a portrait, it was a third of life-size but there was something intriguing   
about it. The background was a high moonlit stained glass window. Shadows in   
the glass and the purity of the light striking jewel tones from the random   
pattern surrounded by walls of granite grey the shade of several of the   
Hogwarts towers. But it was the woman seated beneath the window who made the   
portrait.   
  
She shimmered in the moonlight as if something within her glowed, her robes   
were a deep silvery colour that should have blended into the background but   
didn't. Her garments were cut in a classic style that had been used for   
women's dress robes for centuries, the neckline was low and the sleeves cut   
full to the elbow with a point falling to the floor where they tightened   
running down to the sleeve. Around her neck was a amber and platinum   
necklace, at her feet stood a harp and her fingers crossed in her lap held a   
wand and the dagger that they had seen Miriam using earlier.   
  
But it was the face that drew the watchers' eye. It held some quality,   
something serene that drew the gaze to those wide eyes and blood red hair   
caught back from her face with silver. That and the fact that there was no   
movement in the picture. It wasn't a living wizard portrait, which was   
strange if not unique for Hogwarts.   
  
"The Amber Lady"   
  
Hermione broke the contemplative hush that had descended by reading the out   
loud the name, which was painted across the bottom, but there was no   
signature. That was odd. Who wouldn't want to take credit for something like   
that?   
  
She glanced across at Draco who was looking up at the portrait as if he   
wanted to memorise it. Then after a moment he turned and smiled at the   
others, but she thought she saw tension veiled in his eyes.   
  
She wasn't going to pry though; she simply waited and eventually he spoke.   
  
"Shall we go upstairs then? And see if our 'Amber Lady' is awake?"   
  
***   
  
"I must admit Lucius, after seeing how quickly your compatriots left, that I   
am surprised to find you still on Hogwarts grounds"   
  
Dumbledore was watching him with a gleam in his eye; his tone almost said   
'come on   
little fish, bite'. They sat in Dumbledore's office, the headmaster seated   
behind his desk stacked high as always with books and strange instruments   
watching his guest over steepled fingers. Lucius felt a little like a naughty   
schoolboy being interviewed after causing a disruption in class but if   
Dumbledore thought he was about to be intimidated he was mistaken.   
  
Refusing to swallow the baited hook Lucius simply smiled. "Yes, I wondered   
about that too." He shook his head. "Quite honestly Albus I don't understand   
it myself"   
  
He watched as Dumbledore's smile spread deepening the wrinkles at the side of   
his mouth.   
  
"No of course you don't Lucius, and you're not at all worried about the girl   
currently residing in our sick bay?"   
  
Malfoys reaction was one of practised calm as if discussing nothing more   
extraordinary than the weather though there was a dangerous glint in his eye   
that challenged the old professor to dispute what he was saying.   
  
"Worried? No. Surprised, yes, after all she did, supposedly, die on Hogwarts   
grounds almost twenty years ago."   
  
Dumbledore's eyes darkened to the hue of tempered steel before the merry blue   
twinkle shone out again.   
  
"Well then Lucius, now I've ascertained that you're no threat to the school,   
we shall go and find out what did happen to her."   
  
Lucius had the idea that Dumbledore knew exactly what had happened to her   
years ago, and that this was going to be another sort of test, but he had   
been 'tested' by a true master of the art for years and he didn't intend to   
buckle now. As for not being a threat, he doubted he could be, not with the   
strength of the wards he'd felt going up, and not with his own son in the   
building.   
  
Following the headmasters lead he pushed back his chair and got to his feet.   
Giving an ironic little bow as Dumbledore passed.   
  
"Indeed, I think we shall."   



End file.
